G - Social Influence Flashcards
What is the role of reinforcement?
Parents may teach their children gender related behaviour through operational conditioning
What does the Social Learning Theory argue?
Learning takes place through observation of role models and imitation of their behaviours - more likely to copy if they get rewarded for it
What is the role of the media?
Media represents gender types in certain ways and this can influence childrens gender development, e.g. adverts shows what toys a gender should play with
What is the role of schools?
Teachers beliefs may be important in shaping childrens gender - teachers have their own gender schemas
Teacher gender bias may influence childrens behaviour - more female teachers
Teachers are more likely to reward girls for quiet behaviour and ignore boys’ boisterous behaviour
What did Lytton and Romney find to support the role of reinforcement?
Girls are more likely to be encouraged to help with housework and boys with outdoor tasks - gender stereotyped tasks, copy role models (parents)
How did Archer and Lloyd further support Lytton and Romney?
Found that children as young as 3 criticised peers who engaged in cross sex play and were less likely to play with them
What did Rust find to support observational learning?
Found that young children of either sex who had older brothers became more masculine and those who had older sisters became more feminine - role models, vicarious reinforcement
How did Fagot further support Rust?
4yo, children in traditional families (brought up by mother) tended to use more gender labels/role stereotypes than those in egalitarian families (mother and father share parenting)
What did Wober find to support the role of media?
Characters on TV, found that males had occupational roles whilst women had caring or childcare roles - media reinforces male/female stereotyped behaviours
How did Williams further support Wober?
Found that those with more access to TV were more stereotypical than the town with no TV, but once TV was introduced it increased - particularly in boys
What did Colley find to support the role of schools?
Children divide curriculum into boy and girl subjects, this may be related to the gender to the teachers involved - shows importance of teachers as role models
How did Renzetti and Curran further support Colley?
Boys are more likely to receive praise for the intellectual quality of their work, but girls are often praised for the neatness of their work - teacher bias may influence children and cause gender stereotypes
